REVENGE OF THE SITH
Part III – To All Things, A Beginning
It only took Revan a few minutes to finish his drink and leave the cantina. He quickly hurried away from the seediness of the area and into the bright sky above. He stopped once to look at the beauty of the clouds again and then headed towards the tour shuttles.
He had just enough creds to pay for a ticket, then boarded the vessel, heading to the moon of The Bright Jewel. He took a seat away from everyone and watched with anticipation.
It had been nearly five years since he had left on this journey and he wondered if anyone had changed. He hoped his friends were all right, especially with the news that the temple on Coruscant was gone. That surprisingly left a hole in him.
He didn’t remember training there as a boy and he didn’t remember his days on Dantooine, but somewhere within him, he was saddened that both places of Jedi learning and history were gone. He could only guess it was some part of him that still remembered such things and just hadn’t communicated to him about it.
He was taken out of his thoughts with the announcement that they were approaching the moon. He had quickly gotten in touch with T3 again, telling him where to meet and receiving a strange beep of confirmation. He didn’t think anything of it, assuming it must be the signal cutting in and out.
The shuttle landed and Revan was once again annoyed to see Czerka stands and the like set up. It seemed for every planet he had tried to rid of the company, they had found others who were willing for them to do business.
He waited until the group began to move before he headed in the opposite direction. The moon of Ord Mantell was certainly different. It’s surface held traces of those fluffy pink clouds, which one had a marvelous view of from the top, and was slightly whiter than its home planet.
There were beautiful rock formations that held vivid pinks and reds; it reminded Revan of the crystal cave on Dantooine…that immediately put a stop to his wonderings. He needed to get to the Hawk. He took a leisurely stroll down a path and began to turn around corners and such and then…there she was.
The Ebon Hawk.
She looked a little worse for wear, but he could see that the outside only masked what a truly magnificent ship this was. All his memories from being aboard assaulted him; from the first time he, Canderous, and Bastila had seen it on Davik’s estate, to shooting down Sith fighters in the turrets, to his first kiss shared with Bastila in the port dorm, to his breakdown after the Leviathan…this ship was the home he couldn’t remember and the people onboard were the family he didn’t have.
He almost felt like crying.
Instead, he gave a joyful if not relieved laugh, before jogging to the loading ramp.
He walked in through the garage, missing the site of Canderous’ speeder. The workbench was still there and he could see things seemed to be in order. He traveled through the corridor until he reached the main hold and stopped.
Something wasn’t right.
“T3?” he called, not hearing the familiar whirling of the little droid. In fact, the whole ship seemed to be quiet. “T3?” he called again, his hands hovering over his lightsabers.
“Hello Revan.”
The young knight stared at the newcomer in confusion, then surprise. He wasn’t the same teenager he remembered. He had cut his red hair short into a buzz cut and was growing a chin beard.
He was dressed in black, with a black robe that flowed against him. But the thing that worried Revan the most was the way he looked. He knew, from the dark lines within his face, and the normally bright green eyes had now become dark.
Ellis Yoly was on the dark side.
“Ellis?” he asked, not quite willing to believe it was him just yet. “What’re you…what’re you doing here? Where’s T3? Where’s HK?”
“It’s me, Revan.” replied the Sith Lord. “Or don’t you recognize your old friend? You know, it took me months to find you. You’re not an easy guy to trace, but I should’ve known that. You weren’t as…nearsighted as Malak was. Bravo for staying out of sight this long.
“As for your droids, well…I can’t speak for the T3-M4. I just know he’s probably in the belly of one of the storm beast on Malachor V. And as for HK…you constructed an efficient machine, Rev. Able to be a heartless assassin, as well as a translator. Oh…and he can duplicate voices, did you know that?”
Revan looked around him, around his ship and a sinking realization came over him. “It’s a trap.” he whispered. “This is a trap.” He looked at Ellis. “Where’re my friends?”
Ellis chuckled.”Your friends are fine, I’m sure.” he said. “Though I see the Jedi didn’t completely erase whatever brains you had inside your head. But that’s not going to save you, you know. You were dead once you got aboard.”
“Don’t do this, Ellis,” Revan breathed. “Don’t do this. I know there’s good left in you…”
“Oh, don’t feed me that sanctimonious bantha crap!” he exclaimed. “Iknow what the Jedi are capable of, remember? And there was a time when you saw the lies and the deceit yourself.” The young lord chuckled. “But it doesn’t matter now, does it? The Jedi are dead. I made sure of that myself.”
Revan’s look of compassion turned into one of fury. “It was you.” he sneered. “You bombed the temple on Coruscant!”
“No Revan,” Ellis smirked. “I didn’t do that. Kreia did.”
The former Jedi didn’t have time to react to the news before a young woman with red hair jumped from the corridor leading from the garage.
“Freeze!” She cried, blaster in hand, aiming between the two of them. “The two of you are under arrest. It’s been a long time, Revan, but you’ll be brought to justice soon enough. And as for your new apprentice there…”
The woman never finished her sentence, as she was Force pushed violently down the way she came. Someone shimmered by the corridor leading from the port dorms, while another person shimmered next to Ellis.
“Well,” the Sith Lord replied. “Isn’t this a pleasant reunion? You remember Atton, don’t you Rev?”
Revan looked at whom Ellis pointed to and was shocked to see the man from one of his visions, the one who had enjoyed torturing that Jedi.
“I don’t think he remembers, El.” the man called Atton chuckled.
“He will.” the dark lord replied. “You do remember her, don’t you? Oh, I guess she was just a little girl at the time, but you certainly know her mother, don’t you? Arren Kae? The same Arren Kae that you got killed during the Mandalorian War? No? How about her husband, Yusanis? You know, the man you murdered?!”
Revan cringed when looking at the white haired woman. She did look remarkably like Arren, she even had Arren’s eyes. He couldn’t look at her, he couldn’t look at the man named Atton, and he certainly couldn’t look at Ellis.
“Ellis, I’ve paid for my mistakes.” he whispered.
“Not nearly enough.”
Revan looked up sharply at the sound of a lightsaber being turned on. “Your master was a great help in teaching me what I needed to know, Revan.” he replied. “It was my duty as her apprentice to make sure I upheld that knowledge. There’s going to be a new Sith Empire, with the three of us as its leaders. But first, we need to demolish the old empire. I’m halfway there already. You’re the only thing that stands in my way.”
Revan shook his head, backing up as he did. “Don’t do this, I’m begging you.”
“Begging?” he spat. “Have the Jedi turned you into such a puppet, you resort to begging? The Revan I knew would face a battle, even if it was one he would lose.”
“You don’t understand, Ellis.” Revan pleaded. “There’s something…”
“On the Outer Rim.” the dark lord interrupted. “Yes, yes, I know. And after I kill you, I’ll take care of them. Or…perhaps I should let you and Atton get reacquainted and he can show you what it was you had him do.”
“That sounds like a good idea to me.” Atton smirked.
Revan shook his head. This could not be happening. “It was you, wasn’t it?” he sighed. “That overthrew the queen of Onderon?”
“Of course.” Ellis said, walking towards his prey. “I needed that idiot Valku to keep the queen busy while I killed Kavar.”
“Kavar?” he exclaimed. “You killed your own master!?”
“He wasn’t my master.” Ellis growled. “But speaking of which, yes I did kill her. And I must say, Atris was much better at taking her death more heroically than you are right now. In fact, Vrook and Ell were much better at fighting me off as well.”
Vrook and Ell? He had killed four Jedi masters? Five, if Kreia was counted in the mix. “I’m not gonna fight you, Ellis.” Revan said, finding himself going around the computer console. “You were my friend. You were like a brother to me!”
“Some brother.” the Sith muttered, taking a swing at Revan, only to have him duck. “Did you say that to Malak when you killed him?”
“Damn it, Ellis, will you listen to me!?”
“You don’t have anything to say to me,” the young man replied, taking another swing. “Mandalore would be surprised at you, Revan. He couldn’t stop taking about what a warrior you were.”
“Mandalore?” Revan asked, dodging another swing.
“Oh and by the way, Admiral…Onasi, was it?” Ellis smiled at the knight’s look. “Yes. Adm. Onasi gives his regards. As does his Jedi whore.”
Revan’s lightsabers were in his hand and his right was blocked by Ellis’ red beamed staff. “Touched a nerve, did I?” he grinned. “Excellent. I saw your friend on Telos and I know the Force when I feel it and it was coming in waves from the room behind him…his personal quarters. Just how close do you think the two of them are?”
Revan’s anger bllinded him and he made a slash at Ellis’ head, which he ducked under, allowing his saber to cut through Revan’s stomach. The former master clutched his stomach with his left hand, dropping one saber, and falling to his knees.
He was able to throw out a powerful Force Wave that cause Ellis to fly back into the corner of one of the corridors. Ellis focused on using the Drain Life technique, to no avail, as Revan quickly encased himself with his Force Immunity. Unfortunately, Ellis was too slow to do the same, as Revan hit him with Force Lightening.
“Force Lightening?” the man asked in surprise. “Could it be the old Revan is returning? Because I know no self loving Jedi would ever use the dark side of the Force.”
Revan stood, shakily, his wound healed with the Force. He stared at Ellis, a hard look in his eye. “I’m not a Jedi.” He watched as the young man smiled at him, a sort of sad smile when he had said the words, but then was quickly replaced with a cruel one and his eyes darkened.
The two charged at each other, giving all they had. Ellis came at him in a flurry, blocking and jabbing, losing all control. It was here that Revan was able to get under his arm and slash him at his side.
The Sith Lord grunted, punching the former Jedi master with his left hand. He then used his momentum to slam the man into one of the corridor’s corners. Revan fell in agony and though Ellis stumbled, he prepared to slice the head of the man he had once called friend.
“Ebon Hawk, this is the Sojourn calling. We recently received a distress call from your ship. Are you all right?”
Ellis looked at the computer console within the main hold, recognizing the voice of the speaker. He growled in frustration, looking down at his former friend. “This isn’t over.” he muttered.
“Not by a long shot.” Revan groaned, wincing as Ellis kicked him in the stomach.
He heard the trio leave the ship, but he was in no way or shape to stop them. He used the Force to heal his wounds, but it was the emotional ones he couldn’t fix. How had this happened? How had Ellis Yoly fallen to the dark side?
And if what he said was true, how had Kreia destroyed the temple on Coruscant? And could Bastila and Carth actually…he shook his head, getting to his knees and going over to the console.
“Ebon Hawk, this is the Sojourn. Do you read me?”
“Loud and clear, Capt’n.” he said, smiling at the voice of a friend.
“You rotten son of a…damn it, Re…damn it, Jayden, where have you been?”
Revan chuckled. “On a crazy ride, man.” he joked. “One…one I wouldn’t recommended. Where are you?”
“We’re right over head.” came the reply. “Are you all right?”
“As well as I can be, considering.” he said. “You better send down a medic. And a waiter to take my drink order. I’m become extremely parched.”
He heard a chuckle on the other end. “I’ll get some medics down there.” the voice said. “And the drink’s on me.”
Revan nodded, falling on to his back on the floor. He was tired, more mentally than physically and he knew as soon as he walked on to the ship, there would be questions. A lot of them. And he would need answers.
A lot of them